Editing Margaret Thatcher (section)

====In the Shadow Cabinet====
In 1967, the [[Embassy of the United States, London|United States Embassy]] chose Thatcher to take part in the [[International Visitor Leadership Program]] (then called the Foreign Leader Program), a professional exchange programme that allowed her to spend about six weeks visiting various US cities and political figures as well as institutions such as the [[International Monetary Fund]]. Although she was not yet a Shadow Cabinet member, the embassy reportedly described her to the [[State Department]] as a possible future prime minister. The description helped Thatcher meet with prominent people during a busy itinerary focused on economic issues, including [[Paul Samuelson]], [[Walt Rostow]], [[Pierre-Paul Schweitzer]] and [[Nelson Rockefeller]]. Following the visit, Heath appointed Thatcher to the Shadow Cabinet{{sfnp|Scott-Smith|2003}} as fuel and power spokeswoman.<ref>{{Cite news |date=8 April 2013 |title=Margaret Thatcher's timeline: From Grantham to the House of Lords, via Arthur Scargill and the Falklands War |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/margaret-thatchers-timeline-from-grantham-to-the-house-of-lords-via-arthur-scargill-and-the-8564555.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161104013802/http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/margaret-thatchers-timeline-from-grantham-to-the-house-of-lords-via-arthur-scargill-and-the-8564555.html |archive-date=4 November 2016 |access-date=2 November 2016 |work=[[The Independent]]}}</ref> Before the [[1970 United Kingdom general election|1970 general election]], she was promoted to shadow transport spokeswoman and later to education.{{sfnp|Wapshott|2007|p=65}}<ref>{{Cite news |date=15 November 1968 |title=Maudling leads Tory General Election drive |url={{GBurl|tX9AAAAAIBAJ|p=1&article_id=4653,2776284}} |work=[[The Glasgow Herald]] |page=1 |via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |last=Warden |first=John |date=22 October 1969 |title=Shadow Cabinet's Three Changes |url={{GBurl|E5JAAAAAIBAJ|p=24&article_id=2828,4200705}} |work=The Glasgow Herald |page=24 |via=Google Books}}</ref>

In 1968, [[Enoch Powell]] delivered his [[Rivers of Blood speech|"Rivers of Blood" speech]] in which he strongly criticised [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] immigration to the United Kingdom and the then-proposed [[Race Relations Act 1968|Race Relations Bill]]. When Heath telephoned Thatcher to inform her that he would sack Powell from the Shadow Cabinet, she recalled that she "really thought that it was better to let things cool down for the present rather than heighten the crisis". She believed that his main points about Commonwealth immigration were correct and that the selected quotations from his speech had been taken out of context.{{sfnp|Aitken|2013|page=117}}  In a 1991 interview for ''[[Today (UK newspaper)|Today]]'', Thatcher stated that she thought Powell had "made a valid argument, if in sometimes regrettable terms".<ref name="Sandford">{{Cite magazine |last=Sandford |first=Christopher |author-link=Christopher Sandford (biographer) |date=4 December 2017 |orig-date=June 2012 issue |title=To See and to Speak |url=https://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/article/to-see-and-to-speak/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027040342/https://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/article/to-see-and-to-speak/ |archive-date=27 October 2020 |access-date=23 October 2020 |magazine=[[Chronicles (magazine)|Chronicles]]}}</ref>

Around this time, she gave her first Commons speech as a shadow transport minister and highlighted the need for investment in [[British Rail]]. She argued: "[{{ucfirst:i]f}} we build bigger and better roads, they would soon be saturated with more vehicles and we would be no nearer solving the problem."{{sfnp|Campbell|2000|p=189}}  Thatcher made her first visit to the [[Soviet Union]] in the summer of 1969 as the Opposition transport spokeswoman, and in October, delivered a speech celebrating her ten years in Parliament. In early 1970, she told ''The Finchley Press'' that she would like to see a "reversal of the permissive society".{{sfnp|Campbell|2000|pp=190–191}}